October 8, 2009
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors today set November 4 for a public hearing on a proposed $20 fee to offset costs of administering Photo Radar cases that have overwhelmed the county’s justice courts in the past year. Tens of thousands of cases, which only started to appear last November, now make up 50 percent of courts’ workload in some jurisdictions.
Only those accused speeders who use the court system would be liable for the fee and the money will be used only for the justice courts.
“The courts don’t have many options here,” commented board spokesman Richard de Uriarte. “Photo radar now accounts for more court filings than all types of other cases that go before the courts. And currently, the fines that are paid go to the vendor, the state, the Department of Public Safety, but not to the place that is processing these cases, the courts in the counties.”
County officials said Maricopa County had resisted adding a fee to the speeding fines when photo radar system went into effect. But the caseload has become unmanageable for existing justice courts.
The courts are concerned the caseload is adding to the costs of administering justice here. Rather than levy a tax, or further drain the general fund, a fee on speeders who take their case to court might be better and fairer to all, county officials said. The fee on each defendant would begin in December.
The county reported that in fiscal 2008, ending June 2008, the total annual filings amounted to 435,014, which includes DUI, traffic, misdemeanor and civil cases. Since November 2008, the photo radar cases have flooded the justice courts, averaging 42,326 cases a month, accounting for 50 percent of the filings. Administrators for the justice courts expect the total might reach 600,000 this fiscal year.
The public hearing will be held at 9:00 a.m. at the Supervisors’ Auditorium, 205 West Jefferson, Phoenix.